The glacial sedimentation regime has other characteristics. Progradation is usually focussed into broad "trough-mouth fans" opposite the main ice streams, and the shelf is overdeepened (generally to 300-600 m depth, but in places much deeper) and inward-sloping. Continental slopes are often steep, and in places turbidity-current transport of the unstable component of slope deposition (with down-current deposition of suspended fines) has produced large hemipelagic sediment drifts on the continental rise (Kuvaas and Leitchenkov, 1992; Rebesco et al., 1996; Fig. 6). Sediment supply to the slope and rise is highly cyclic, with large quantities of unsorted diamicton deposited during glacial maxima and very little deposited during interglacial periods.
Three depositional environments are recognized: shelf topsets and slope foresets of the prograded wedge, and proximal hemipelagic drifts on the continental rise. Of these, the shelf record is potentially the least continuous. There, sediment is preserved mainly as a result of slow subsidence from cooling and from flexural response to the topset and foreset load, and the sediment is prone to re-erosion during the next glacial advance. The topsets tend to mark only the major changes in glacial history, so that the more continuous foreset record is an essential complement. The proximal rise drifts may not always be present and are as yet sparsely sampled, but potentially contain an excellent record, closely related to that of the upper slope foresets from which they are derived. Existing seismic data and drill sites from around Antarctica have demonstrated the coarse (but not as yet the fine) scale climate record in continental rise sediments and the likely climatic sensitivity of margin wedge geometry (Barker, 1995), and have revealed the partial nature of the shelf topset record (Hayes, Frakes, et al., 1975; Barron, Larsen, et al., 1989).
The continental shelf is an area of high biogenic productivity during interglacial periods. Although long-term sediment preservation on the shelf is limited because of the erosional effects of grounded ice sheets during subsequent glacials, biogenic interbeds will be preserved within sequence groups composed mainly of thick glacial diamicton topsets and foresets. In addition, glacially eroded deeps can preserve expanded Holocene sections that may be continuous and essentially biogenic, provided the ice-sheet grounding line is sufficiently remote that ice-rafted debris is minor or absent and the section is sufficiently protected from bottom current action. Such sections can provide a record of decadal and millennial variability that can be compared with records from low latitudes and the ice sheet itself. This environment is available on the inner shelf of the Antarctic Peninsula (Domack and McClennen, 1996) and will be sampled during Leg 178.
Regional Features of Antarctic Glaciation
Different parts of Antarctica have had different glacial histories. The present Antarctic ice sheet
comprises an East Antarctic component grounded largely above present sea level and a West
Antarctic component grounded largely below sea level. Marine-based (West Antarctic) ice sheets
are considered less stable. There is evidence from around Antarctica that, although East and West
Antarctic climates were coupled in the past, changing approximately in phase, the climate of West
Antarctica (including the Antarctic Peninsula) has varied around a consistently warmer baseline.
Although East Antarctic glaciation extends to 35 Ma or earlier, West Antarctic glaciation probably
began more recently, during generally colder times. Further, there is strong evidence that Northern
Hemisphere glaciation has been the main contributor to global sea-level change over the past 0.8
m.y. and probably 2.5 m.y., and has therefore partially driven the more subdued changes in
Antarctic glaciation. Another significant local control may have been the Transantarctic Mountains,
which probably attained much of their present elevation and influence on the East Antarctic ice
sheet during late Cenozoic time.
Antarctic Peninsula Region
Tectonic Influences On Sedimentation
The tectonic setting of the Antarctic Peninsula is unusual, but straightforward. Subduction of the
Pacific ocean floor that had occurred for 150 m.y. or more ended with collision of a (Phoenix
Antarctic) ridge crest at the trench, earliest (~50 Ma) in the southwest and latest (6-3 Ma) in the
northeast. In the far northeast, the surviving South Shetland Trench and extensional Bransfield
Strait form a modern complexity that does not concern us here. Generally, the effects of collision
have included (1) some terrigenous sedimentation in and beyond the ridge crest in the last 2-3
m.y. before collision and (2) uplift of the margin soon after collision followed by slow subsidence,
leading to a hiatus in terrigenous sediment supply to the rise in that particular collision segment for
a few million years after collision. Collisions occurred well before the onset of glaciation in the
southwest, but not in the northeast. In the northeast, this provides a useful constraint on the
maximum age of glacial sediments (they overlie ocean floor of known age), but also threatens
interference between tectonic and glacial events. For the older glacial history it is prudent to avoid
the northeast area of the margin.
Antarctic Peninsula Glacial Sedimentation
The ultimate aim of the four or five linked ANTOSTRAT drilling proposals is to provide an
estimate of the variation in size of the Antarctic Ice Sheet through the Cenozoic. Each
ANTOSTRAT proposal is focussed on the particular contributions its region might make toward
understanding Antarctic glacial history. A single region does not offer the best opportunities for
drilling in all respects. The particular value of drilling on the Antarctic Peninsula is made clear
below, in terms of the main influences on glacial sedimentation.
2. Snow accumulation varies with temperature and is greatest around the continental edge and particularly along the Antarctic Peninsula, which is warmer than East Antarctica (Drewry and Morris, 1992). Snow accumulation governs the required rates of ice transport, hence basal sediment transport. Greater accumulation means an expanded sediment record. Warmer ice means (probably) faster ice flow, which also contributes to a rapid response to climate and an expanded sediment record.
3. The extent of the ice drainage basin affects the speed of response to climate change and adds the complexity of a distal to a proximal signal (which allows the possibility of seeing the effects of a small, purely inland ice sheet at the coast during less-glaciated periods). The Antarctic Peninsula is a narrow strip of interior upland, dissected by fjords and bordered by a broad continental shelf. It therefore has a low-reservoir, high-throughput glacial regime with only a proximal source, so it is both simple and highly responsive to climate change.
4. Subice geology (resistance to erosion) is a significant variable, to the extent that a till base facilitates ice streaming. The Peninsula interior is 2000 m high, composed largely of Andean-type plutonic and volcanic rocks. Before ridge subduction, the Pacific margin was a well-developed forearc terrain on which the glacial regime has superposed an extensive prograded wedge (Larter and Barker, 1989, 1991b; Anderson et al., 1990; Larter and Cunningham, 1993; Bart and Anderson, 1995). The topography and geology of the Peninsula vary very little along strike, which simplifies models of erosional and depositional response to climate change. Short cores on the outer shelf show diamicton beneath a thin cover of Holocene hemipelagic mud (Pope and Anderson, 1992; Pudsey et al., 1994).